Bishop Helen Ann's letters

Notes from the office of the Bishop of Ripon

4 February – 17 February

Growing God’s Kingdom in the Ripon Episcopal Area

Bishop Helen-Ann is also on twitter @h_ahartley and Instagram @bishophelenann; Bishop Helen-Ann blogs occasionally at bishophelenann@wordpress.com.  The Diocesan Twitter feed may be found at @LeedsCofE; The Diocesan Bishop of Leeds, Bishop Nick is @nickbaines (Twitter), and his blog is nickbaines.wordpress.com.

Please remember the Diocesan Prayer Cycle which may be found at http://www.leeds.anglican.org/content/prayer-diary it includes the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer, as well as praying for the people, parishes and places of the Diocese of Leeds.

Bishop Helen-Ann writes: ‘February 4^th sees the completion of my first year as Bishop of Ripon.  It has been a wonderfully full year!  I am immensely grateful for the prayer, support, encouragement and patience of so many people during this time.  On Sunday (February 3^rd) I visited HMPYOI Deerbolt, preaching and presiding at a Eucharist to celebrate Candlemas and to welcome the new Anglican chaplain, Rebecca Tobin.  Please pray for Rebecca as she takes up this new ministry. 

Thank you to everyone for all that you do to sustain and encourage God’s mission wherever you are, and particularly to the many retired clergy, readers, lay worship leaders and volunteers who work so hard to keep things going in vacancies (and we do have quite a number of those in the Ripon Area).  Please pray for those parishes and benefices in vacancy.

Finally as the note below says, the new Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven will be installed during Evensong in Ripon Cathedral on March 10^th.  Please come if you can, and do pray for Jonathan and for his wife Flora as they prepare to move.

Thank you all again for the privilege of serving in your midst, and I look forward to year 2!’

Bishop Helen-Ann’s Diary (4 February – 17 February)

Date for your diary: A reminder that the installation of the new Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven, the Rev’d Canon Jonathan Gough is at 3.30pm on Sunday 10^th March  at Ripon Cathedral. 

Sunday Gospel thoughts

Sunday February 10^th  (4^th Sunday  before Lent, Luke 5.1-11)

There are two aspects to this story of the call of Simon that stand out for me when I read it: firstly, Jesus intervenes in Simon’s life without invitation; he just gets into Simon’s boat!  Secondly, there is something about following Jesus which means leaving everything.  I find both those points decidedly uncomfortable; but maybe that’s the point?  If it is the case that Luke is writing for a community that was rather comfortable of means, then that speaks to us in our contexts when we might be getting a little too complacent.  Possessions (after all) can sometimes get in the way of the Holy Spirit.  I think we have to work it out where we are, that’s the point of the Gospel message, but it remains clear that answering Jesus’ call comes at a cost.  Of course the benefits are clear too; they just aren’t always easy to see.

Look at Simon’s response to Jesus’ call.  How do you think you might have responded?

Sunday February 17^th   (3^rd Sunday before Lent, Luke 6.17-26)

Here begins the ‘sermon on the plain’ (note that in Matthew’s version, we have a sermon ‘on the mount’).  Nick King in the notes to this passage in his translation of the New Testament asks as simply: ‘do the ‘congratulations’ and ‘woes’ make you feel uncomfortable?  If so, why?’  As we continue the journey to Lent, this seems like a good opportunity to reflect on just that very question.

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